WWF and the Danube

DanubeParks training, Eckartsau, 21 September 2010

Andreas Beckmann

WWF Danube CarpathianProgramme

Discussion

What are the greatest challenges…

• …for you in your work for a PA?

• …for your protected area?

Content

• Introduction to WWF-DCP and priorities

• Our view on PAs, their role

• Opportunities for future cooperation

Our Challenge

Natural Capital Our Global Impact

Danube-Carpathian Region

Plans for Presences

Green Carpathians

The Carpathian Mountains are Europe’s last great wilderness area – a bastion for large carnivores, with over half of the continent’s populations of bears, wolves and lynx, and

home to the greatest remaining reserves of old growth forests outside of Russia.

Our Goal: Green CarpathiansBy 2020: 15 million hectares of mosaic landscapes, including High Conservation Value Forest and Farmlands, remain preserved and interconnected.

Our Focus:• Protected area designation and management

• Forest protection and management• Bears and large carnivores

• Addressing threats: infrastructure, illegal logging

• Carpathian Convention

Responsible forest managementWe continued promoting FSC certification in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine through awareness raising, training and support for information centres as well as technical assistance. At the same time, we promoted efforts to protect the most valuable forest resources even in commercially logged areas,

through identification and protection of High Conservation Value Forests in Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine.

Forest protection and management

Threat: Illegal logging

Illegal logging remains a major challenge in the region. One important tool for addressing the problem is an internet-based system that WWF developed in cooperation with the Romanian government to help document and therefore control the flow of timber.

Forest protection and management

Construction of a road through one of Europe’s last great wilderness areas at the edge of Retezat National Park is temporarily halted while negotations continue. Elsewhere, destruction continues. Development of ski areas is exploding throughout the Carpathians and Bulgarian mountains, in spite of very uncertain prospects for many low-lying areas as the climate warms. In Bulgaria, illegal pistes and resorts are being built in national parks and protected areas at Rila, Pirin and most recently at Mount Vitosha overlooking the Bulgarian capital.

Threats: Infrastructure

Bulldozers in Vitosha Nature Park, Bulgaria

Green FinancingEU & related fundsPayments for Ecosystem ServicesPrivate sector

Good food that is good for nature, good for nature

Food fairs and VIP-lunches organised by WWF in Bulgaria and Romania focused attention on restrictions to small farmers producing good food that is good for nature but “illegal” to sell,

thanks to unnecessarily restrictive interpretations of EU hygiene and other standards.

Green Economy

Climate Tour, Climate Campaign 2009

With support from the Toyota Foundation and dozens of local partners, WWF organised a Climate Tour and related media and advertising campaigns thatvisited Hungary, the Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Ukraine.

Schools for a Living Planet

30 schools from 10 countries of the region participated in the Schools for a Living Planet programme organisedby WWF-Austria with support from the Erste Bank Foundation.

In Romania, over 2,000 schools are participating in the schools for the future programme of WWF and ….

• 35 cities and towns• Concerts: Beograd, Novi Sad

• Government, city support• Massive media presence

Earth Hour Serbia

This year the 2% fundraising campaign in Romania focused on having a more visible online presence. The campaign website attracted more than 4,600 unique visitors in just a month!

2% for the Carpathian Brown Bear, 2% for WWF

National Parks Day, Bulgaria

In Bulgaria, WWF organised National Parks Day with support from Globul. Thousands of people and celebrity ambassadors spent the day volunteering for their favorite nature park.

Blue Danube

The Danube River basin is the most international river basin in the world, draining 19 countries on its 2,800 km journey from the Black Forest in Germany to the Black Sea.

From the largely untamed middle and lower stretches of the river to the spectacular Danube Delta at its mouth, the Danube is home to some of the world’s richest wetlands.

Much is looking up for the Danube.

Over the past 150 years, the Danube has been much abused. Particularly the upper reaches of the river were straightened, corseted and dissected. Waste and pollution made much of the river unswimmable.

Fortunately, over the past 20 years much has changed for the better. Water quality is much improved thanks to tougher environmental standards and massive investment in waste and water treatment. Most of the remaining wetlands are now protected, and some of those lost are being restored. The International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River and the EU Water Framework Directive have given the world’s most international river a framework for governance and integrated river basin management that is an example around the world.

But the river’s recovery is faced by new threats, particularly from navigationand hydropower.

Our Goal: A Living Danube

Our Focus:• Protection and management

• Restoration

• Sturgeon, connectivity

• Addressing threats: navigation

• Good river basin management

By 2020: 1.5 million ha of floodplains on 1,500 km of free-flowing river sections and bodies are protected and connected to the river system in order to sustain biodiversity, build resilience and provide ecosystem good and services for people.

Length: 2,780 km / 1,730 mi

Area: 800,000 km 2 / 310,000 mi 2

Danube: for nature

© Daniel Petrescu© Daniel Petrescu

© Daniel Petrescu

Danube: for people

© Daniel Petrescu

© Daniel Petrescu

© Daniel Petrescu

The Danube: Living River or “Priority Axis No. 7”?

WWF took an active part during ICPDR’s Ministerial Meeting in February 2010. At this meeting the first comprehensive Danube River Basin Management Plan was adopted - by all Danube countries, both EU and non-EU member states.

Danube River Basin Management Plan

NGOs join forces to save the river from inland navigation22 NGOs from the region sat together to produce a common position on navigation, calling for the EU and national governments to guarantee functioning ecosystem processes and to prove that navigation projects meet all legal requirements.

WWF initiates dialogue with Ukrainian authorities on Bystroye Canal

In December 2009 WWF invited Ukrainian government officials and experts to a meeting in Kiev to discuss ways of minimising the impact of inland navigation on the fragile Delta ecosystem, today and in the future.

> 80% lost

Impact: Loss of floodplains

Damming floodplain area of the Danube river

0

100

200

300

400

500

1949 1952 1956 1960 1962 1966 1975

x1,000 ha

Source: Danube Delta Institute 2007

Results: loss of floodplains

� since 1960s: dramatic loss of former floodplains

� about 500,000 ha

Damming floodplain area of the Danube river

0

100

200

300

400

500

1949 1952 1956 1960 1962 1966 1975

x1,000 ha

Catch sizes in the Romanian Danube Delta and adjacent lakes

020004000

60008000

1000012000

140001600018000

19

481

950

19

521

954

19

561

958

19

601

961

19

641

966

19

681

970

19

721

974

tons

Cyprinus Ca rpio

Total

Source: Danube Delta Institute 2007

Results: loss of fish catch

� corresponding loss of fish breeding areas

� corresponding loss of fish catch in the Danube Delta

Results: damaging floods in Europe 1998-2002

river catchments affected by flooding

OnceTwice 3 times4 times5 times6 times

Source: EEA 2005, refereeing to ETC/TE, 2003

Hungary & Romaniawere hit the most times by flooding

Results: floods in 2005/2006

Romania• 69 people killed (2005)• people evacuated

13,000 (2005)14,000 (2006)

• € 1.5 billion (2005)

Bulgaria • 14 people killed (2005)• 14,000 people homeless (2005)• € 520 million (2005)

Source: European Flood Report 2005 –Central and Eastern Europe (2005), Gândul 2005, BBC 2006, WWF (2006)

� Lower Danube was most affected by flood damage

solutions?

for a living planet®

floodplain

restoration

pollutionloss of

functional habitats

climate change

Strategy to achieve conservation goals

� 43 floodplains with high potential for flood risk mitigation

� total: >10,500 km2 remaining areas; >7,000 km2 restoration sites

WWF‘s study on flood mitigation

source: WWF (2006)

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Wetland conservation and restoration

WWF Strategy for the Danube, 2010-20:

1) Protection: improved protection/management for 2 million ha.

2) Restoration: 600,000 ha restored (at least 1 site in 6 countries)

Lower Danube Green CorridorFebruary 2010

1.4 million ha protected!

„Europe‘s Amazon“

… with its exceptional biodiversity

Croatia and Hungary agreed to establish the Trans-BoundaryBiosphere Reserve „Danube-Drava-Mura“

Next step:Extend the protected area to Austria, Slovenia and Serbia

WWF developed a vision for the future management of the reserveand restoration of the riverlandscape

Next step:Start of river restoration projects

In 2009, with support of WWF…

Wetlands restoration and management

…will be Europe´s largest river protected area (800,000 ha)… the world´s first five-country protected area

… a symbol for international understanding, peace and regional cooperation

Danube-Drava-Mura Biosphere Reserve

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for a living planet800,000 ha in Danube basin = high restoration potential

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for a living planet

Focal areas for wetland protection, restoration

Lower Danube(Bulgaria, Romania)

Danube Delta(Romania, Ukraina, Moldova)

Upper Tisza(Ukraine, Hungary, Romania)

Middle Tisza(Hungary)

Danube-Drava-Mura(Serbia, Croatia, Hungary, Slovenia, Austria)

March-Morava, Danube (Austria, Slovakia)

Focus: Danube Delta

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500,000 ha Lower Danube

Floodplain restoration in Garla Mare, Romania

Restoration of Liberty Island, Hungary

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River regulation -only 200 hundred years ago……. and nowadays

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3-D model wetland

Danube sturgeon

Sturgeon Ancient survivor on the brink of extinctionThere are several species of Sturgeon on the Danube, including the giant Beluga (Huso huso), which can reach up to 7 meters in length. The Danube’s flagship species has survived since prehistoric times but now teeters on the brink of extinction. The conservation action plan for Danube sturgeon that was facilitated by WWF and adopted by the Bern Convention in 2007 has been adopted by the parties of the Danube protection commission as part of the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive.

Longitudinal connectivity

Sturgeon Action Plan

� Stop over-exploitation and ensure sustainable trade

� Stop habitat degradation and ensure the future of

sturgeon migration routes

� Ensure effective coordination of conservation measures

Iron Gates Dams

Objective: Make the Iron Gates Dams passable for sturgeon

Integrated River Basin Management

Active support for ICPDR, European Commission, European Parliament and governments in developing and implementing the Danube River Basin Management Plan and EU Water Framework Directive

EU policy and funding

Discussion

Why is your protected area important?

What is its role in and value to society?

Discussion

How can you and your protected area

benefit from trans-national and trans-

sectoral cooperation?

What do you need from others? What do

they need from you?

Discussion

What do you expect from DanubeParks?

What can you give?

What would you like from WWF? What can

you offer?

We look forward to working with you!WWF in the Danube-Carpathians

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